


The curious case of a catatonic patient

by NYWCgirl



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Covert Operation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Medical Procedures, Mental Health Issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24962155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: Jack and Mac are kidnapped, when they are rescued, Mac isn´t doing well. OK, that may be an understatement.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25
Collections: Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	The curious case of a catatonic patient

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written to fil the ‘isolation’ square on my H/C Bingo card.

‘Do you have any idea what happened? What made him go catatonic?’

‘I don´t, I really don´t I wasn´t there. I wasn´t there for him!’

Matty can see how it hurts Jack that he wasn´t there when Mac needed him.

‘I should have been there for him, taken care of him. I failed him.’

‘Jack, listen to me, you did everything you could. This isn´t on you, understand?’

Jack nods, but it is clear he isn´t convinced. Matty can see the way Jack is beating himself up he failed Mac and wasn’t there for his partner.

‘Have you seen him yet?’ Jack asks with a tone of insecurity in it.

Matty studies Jack, will it be wise to tell him the truth? She finally nods, ‘yes, I saw him.’

‘How is he? Is he in pain?’

She shakes her head, ‘the docs say he isn´t and I agree with them.’

Jack shakes his head, ‘I don´t believe that, he is lost somewhere in his head, there is nothing worse for him, Matty. And if the kid is lost, he must be hurting. I need to see him.’

‘And you will Jack, but you need to heal first, you can´t help him like this.’

Jack knows this is true but on the other hand, the kid needs him. It is not that he has life threatening injuries.

‘Jack, please take care of yourself, before you take care of Mac.’

‘I know.’

‘Can I trust you to stay put, for now?’

Matty can see Jack deflate, ‘yeah, I promise.’

Matty leaves after saying goodbye. Jack shuffles back to the bed, the talk with Matty left him exhausted and in pain. He pulls himself in bed and takes a couple of deep breaths. There is no use keeping up a front, he is alone so he pushes the nurse call button.

‘Hi Jack, you called?’

‘Yeah, can I get something for the pain?’

‘Let me check your file. Yeah, you are due for your next dose. I’ll get it.’

She leaves the room and comes back with a blister. She pours a glass of water and hands both to Jack, who gratefully excepts them. She fluffs his cushion and pushes the remote so the top part of the bed moves down. When he lays back, she puts a blanket over him.

‘Try to get some rest, Jack.’

‘Thank you.’

Jack closes his eyes and lets himself drift.

_The moment they are caught, Jack knows they are in trouble. These guys mean business. There is no chit chat. Mac is roughly grabbed and pulled away from Jack. They are duct taped in a way even Mac is unable to free himself. Then they are taken to separate rooms, but there is nothing he can do or say to prevent it, being gagged with duct tape. When the screaming starts, Jack can only helplessly listen._

‘Jack?’

Jack is pulled from his thoughts and look sin the concerned face of his doctor.

‘Flashback?’

‘Yeah, I…’

‘You need to rest, Jack. I will ask the nurse…’

‘No, I don´t want anything to sleep. I want, no, I need to see Mac!’

‘I realize that Jack, but Mac is still in a fragile state…’

‘That is why I need to be there. He trusts me.’

‘I will discuss it with his doctors, OK? Now rest, please, you will need it. If you want to help Mac, help yourself first.’

* * *

‘OK Jack, remember, Mac is in a fragile state of mind. This is a tag we want you to wear, if anything goes wrong push the button and we will come in.’

‘Mac won´t hurt me.’

The doctor and two nurses nod in understanding.

‘You are keeping him in a padded cell?’ Jack asks in disbelieve when he sees the room.

‘It’s the most save option while giving him space and room to move. Otherwise we had to restrain him and we didn´t want to do that, taking his history in account.’

Everything is better than restraining the kid, so he agrees they made a good decision, even though it taste bitter, ‘let me in.’

The nurse opens the door and Jack steps in. Mac is lying on his side on the soft floor, curled up in a corner. His head oddly doesn´t touch the floor. Jack hears the door being locked behind him, so he slowly walks up to where Mac is and sits down. He slowly puts his good arm on Mac´s shoulder. Mac doesn´t respond in any way.

‘It’s OK kid, it’s me, Jack.’

Mac stays quiet, his eyes fixed on something only he can see.

‘How are you Mac?’

He scoots his leg under Mac´s head in the hope the kid can rest his head, maybe he doesn´t want to put his head on the floor. When there is no response, Jack just closes his eyes. Before he came here, the nurse gave him something for the pain and it tends to make him drowsy and if he is being honest, he is tired, well exhausted describes it better. But Mac doesn´t seem to relax, not even with his presence, his head doesn´t even touch his head and it is weird how tense his body feels. He gently carts his fingers through Mac´s hair, letting himself drift off.

He wakes because of Mac’s restless movements, sometime must have passed, because the sun shines in through a completely different direction.

‘Mac?’

‘Jack, what are you doing here? It’s dangerous Jack, be careful, I will take care if the IED, but you need to be very still.’

When Jack moves, because his injured arm bothers him, he hisses when he moves it wrong.

‘You are injured? Why didn´t you say so?’

Mac frantically works on something only he can see.

‘Mac, we are no longer in the sandbox, hey Mac? Remember? We are home, well not exactly home, we are in hospital, but..’

The kid looks up at him, his red eyes confused, ‘Jack, I need to be very careful with this IED, OK?’

Not knowing what to do, he lets Mac play out his hallucination. But Mac starts working himself in a frenzy. It hurts Jack to see Mac so confused and disoriented, he should ask the doctors if this is normal, but when he moves to get up, Mac gets even more worked up. So Jack pushes the button on the tag they gave him. A male nurse almost immediately enters the isolation cell.

‘He’s getting really agitated.’

‘Yeah, that is part of the diagnosis of delirious mania. You should come with me, the doctor wants to talk to you about his treatment.’

Jack nods, ‘Mac, I´m gonna leave for a moment, OK. I will come back, promise.’

‘Yeah, you are free to go, while I take care of the rest of the IED.’

‘Good idea, Mac.’

Jack leaves the room and is met by the medical team taking care of Mac.

‘So, what is the verdict, doc? He is getting really agitated.’

‘Yes, like I explained before, we diagnosed Mac with Catatonia. We think it is a response to his unrequited fear during this kidnapping.’

Jack nods, he remembers too well what the kid had looked like when they found him. He shakes himself.

‘Can you cure it?’

‘We can treat him with sedative drugs in combination with ECT.’

‘ECT?’

‘Electroconvulsive therapy.’

‘Is that’s till used? I thought that was something they did like a century ago?’

‘It is sophisticated procedure and nothing like how it is portrayed in one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.’

‘If you say so, how are we going to proceed?’

‘We will perform a lorazepam test, so we can see if the drugs would work on Macgyver.’

‘I want to be there, when…’

‘Well, normally…’

‘I don’t care, the kid went through hell and back , I want to be there for him.’

The doc nods, so Matty probably informed him, good.’

‘OK, let’s start with the test, so we can determine how we should continue.’

‘It all start with a plan.’

They go back inside and Mac is sitting rather rigid on the floor. All the anxiety is gone. Two nurses lift Mac of the floor and take him to the doctor’s office. He sits ram rod stiff and doesn´t respond to any verbal instruction. The doctor pinches Mac who doesn´t respond, so he takes a new needle out of the package and Jack unconsciously steps closer.

‘It’s OK Jack, it is part of the test.’

The doctor pricks Mac with the needle in the back of the shoulder but Mac doesn´t even flinch. Next, the doctor injects lorazepam and tells Jack to wait when he looks at him anxiously.

Five minutes later, Mac looks at the doctor and his eyes start searching the room until they fall on Jack.

‘Jack? Where am I?’ What happened to you?’

He wants to get up but the doctor asks him to stay seated.

‘I’m fine Mac, everything is going to be fine,’ he says with a lump in his throat.

‘Hi Macgyver, I’m doctor Enterman and I bet you have a lot of questions, don´t you?’

* * *

After everything is explained to Mac, he agrees to undergo ECT on the condition Jack is allowed to stay with him.

Mac is prepared for the therapy and connected to monitors, he is rigid again and it hurts Jack to see Mac like that, trapped in his own body.

The anesthesiologist is happy with Mac´s vitals and gives Mac a general anesthesia and muscle relaxants, explaining to Jack it will help prevent convulsions associated with the seizure activity.

‘Macgyver is asleep, so if you want to leave, hat is OK, he won´t know.’

‘I promised, just continue. I’m good.’

The doctor places two electrodes on Mac´s scalp. A controlled electrical current passes between the electrodes, causing a brain seizure. It only lasts forty seconds and Mac´s heart rate and blood pressure are closely monitored. It is over quicker than Jack expected and Mac is brought to a room to recover.

* * *

Jack is ecstatic, Mac has been responding well to the treatment, the catatonic signs receded rapidly once they started treatment. The doctors agree Mac is ready to be treated as an out-patient and he was discharged from the hospital. Jack went to pick him up, even though he still wasn´t officially clear to drive. Now they are back at Mac´s place. The kid looks a lot better, the dark bruises have faded, bones are healing, so they are on their way to recovery.

* * *

Jack parks the car on Mac’s driveway. Since Bozer is on a mission, they need to take care of their own meals and groceries. He takes one bag and walks to the front door to open it.

‘Hey Mac! I’ve everything you asked, Mac! I could use some help.’

When he doesn´t get a response, het puts the bag down and walks into the house.

‘Mac?’

Still no reaction. Jack starts to worry, did Mac leave the house without telling him? He walks into Mac’s bedroom and stops. Mac is standing next to his bed, completely immobile. Jack takes Mac´s hand and there is resistance, but gradually Mac allows himself to be postured. Jack’s stomach drops, the catatonia is back. Jack takes his phone and calls doctor Enterman, who tells Jack to bring Mac in.

In the hospital Mac receives lorazepam and is admitted. They scheduled him for the an ECT the next day.

‘What happened Jack, he was doing so good.’

‘I think he didn´t take his lorazepam since he believed he was cured. He also did research and he didn´t want to become dependent.’

‘It is a common mistake these patients make. Jack can hit himself, he should have paid more attention to the kid but he was doing so well.

‘Don’t beat yourself up Jack, we are going to take care of Mac, this is just a setback, we will get there.’

_Epilogue_

Mac is tinkering with his bike in the living room. Jack puts the cup of tea next to Mac on the floor and makes himself comfortable in the couch. After Mac’s episode, Jack moved in to make sure Mac stayed compliant with his therapy and he did. The catatonia went in remission and Mac started counseling. He looks at Mac working and is proud, the kid came a long way.


End file.
